Beleaguered Republicans turn on each other in desperate attempt to explain how historic blue wave decimated control of Congress and wiped out seats in deep red states

Donald Trump's MAGA movement appeared to be splintering as key Republicans desperately searched for answers after the GOP midterm disaster and even turned the blame on each other.Republicans saw the Democrats take commanding majorities of both the House and Senate, as well as a majority of governorships across the country after Tuesday's historic election.The blame game started at the White House were Trump cited the poor quality of the candidates, claiming the results would have been different if he was on the ballot. 'I JUST WASN’T ON THE BALLOT. IF I WERE, WE WOULD HAVE WON IN A LANDSLIDE!' Trump wrote on Truth Social.In a surprising move, Vice President JD Vance forcefully condemned the war in Iran as he tries to distance himself from unpopular policies while plotting his future.'The reason we lost is the war,' Vance said. 'If you'd like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so.'He added: 'Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that's at least honest.'Donald Trump Jr reacted positively to Vance's bold statement, writing 'every word of this is...' before adding three 100 Points emojis.However, solidarity around Vance soured quickly as pundits and politicians across the Republican spectrum quickly turned on him, and one another. Donald Trump's MAGA movement appeared to be splintering as key Republicans desperately searched for answers after the GOP midterm disaster and even turned the blame on each other Vice President JD Vance forcefully condemned the war in Iran as he tries to distance himself from unpopular policies while plotting his futureNational Review writer Noah Rothman blasted Vance for 'undermining' the administration by obsessing over his political future.'Frankly, I don't know why this WH tolerates the frequency and extent to which JD Vance feathers his own political nest at the expense of this administration's own position,' Rothman said. 'He's undermining it from within. They have to know what he's up to. He won't discipline himself.'Fox News commentator Mark Levin endorsed Rothman's post, calling Vance's insubordination 'open and notorious now.'Levin then aimed straight at the vice president over the failed ceasefire that Vance negotiated with Iran. 'The same buffoons who screwed up our Iran operations with the phony and feckless peace negotiations are now blaming the midterms debacle on the Iran war,' Levin said. 'Hence, their frenzied propaganda ops today.' Former Vice President Mike Pence chimed in with an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal that blamed the GOP Congress for abandoning the party's principles. Former Vice President Mike Pence chimed in with an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal that blamed what he called 'big government Republicans' who abandoned the party's principles Donald Trump Jr reacted positively to Vance's bold statement, writing 'every word of this is...' before adding three Hundred Points emojis'Over the past two years, we've seen conservatives shrug as a Republican Congress continued to rack up record debt and spending while the administration seized stakes in private companies, imposed unconstitutional tariffs on friend and foe alike and abandoned the right to life, all while copying the other side by offering government handouts and expanding entitlements,' he said. Pence did not name anyone in particular but went on to call the war 'an albatross around the necks of Republicans.' At Turning Point USA, commentators slammed media personalities from the MAGA universe who were less than faithful during this rough moment.'We saw the Megyn Kellys, the Tuckers, the Marjorie Taylor Greenes break away,' TPUSA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet said on The Charlie Kirk Show.The MAGA-adjacent pundits had plenty of criticism to wield against the president.Former GOP Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a onetime Trump ally, called the election 'a total referendum on Trump.' 'Trump covered up the Epstein files protecting rapists and pedophiles, started a foreign war no one wanted and killed a school full of kids, put his rich elite donors before the struggling Americans who put him in office, made life unaffordable with his tariffs, and caused gas and diesel prices to skyrocket while he played the market and sold crypto,' she wrote on X. 'And Republicans stood behind him silently clapping like trained baby seals,' she added. Former GOP Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a onetime Trump ally, called the election 'a total referendum on Trump' Tucker Carlson, a sometime MAGA ally, went after Trump for his demeanor during wild campaign rallies where he complimented multiple men's backsides. 'I think a lot of men who voted for Trump two years ago imagine this was a masculine, vigorous leader,' Carlson said. 'Here's a guy who's vain and venal and indecisive... he's dancing to YMCA? Wait a second, he kinda seems a little more like a b****y old woman than an alpha male.' Carlson called Trump's behavior 'not appealing to men because it's not masculine.' Megyn Kelly on her show said the Republican Party was 'in ruins, and maybe it needed to be' following the results. She blamed candidates and a party as a whole for relying too much on the President.'They're going to have to learn how to win without daddy on the ballot, and to find their ethical center, and not just be puppets of Trump's, not to have their entire political world revolve around Donald Trump,' she said. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis - who ran for President against Trump in 2024 - blamed the poor results on the war, high prices and bad candidates including a screed against Ohio gubernatorial loser Vivek Ramaswamy. Tucker Carlson, a sometime MAGA ally, went after Trump for his demeanor during wild campaign rallies where he complimented multiple men's backsides 'Vivek, he's like a tech guy, did this Alzheimer's drug, and he wants to bring in foreign workers on visas. That is not the type of person that's gonna sell. And I know he shot himself in the foot,' he said. DeSantis had already turned on the administration before the results came in, warning in an interview that Republicans were 'gaslighting' voters.'Gas is higher. It hurts working-class people, and it's higher because of this conflict. That's just a fact,' DeSantis told Stephen A. Smith. 'If you can't admit that to voters, then you're gaslighting them, and they're not gonna listen to you on other things.' Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who ran against Trump in 2016, eviscerated both DeSantis and Vance for their late criticisms of the administration. 'The vice president to me has no credibility,' Christie told Politico. 'He's been sitting in the White House now for the last two years — haven't heard him say a negative word, you know, until this past Wednesday, and he limited it just to the war in Iran, which is not the only problem we have here.'Christie also went after DeSantis for his shapeshifting views on Trump. 'Now he wants to be critical. I think the governor is getting ready to leave office, and he's looking for a way to be relevant and I think he looks like he's talking out of both sides of his mouth.' Florida Governor Ron DeSantis - who ran for President against Trump in 2024 - blamed the war, high prices and bad candidates including a screed against Ohio gubernatorial loser Vivek RamaswamyChristie declared 'the Trump era is over' and blamed the President for losses in his state, where just one of 12 Congressmembers will be a Republican in January. Senator Ted Cruz saw his state of Texas succumb to the worst of the blue wave, leaving him the lone Republican statewide elected official.The former presidential candidate blamed the Republican Party for refusing to meet the public where they are on affordability. 'That is very real pain from real Americans, and too many Republican politicians seem like they didn't understand or they didn't care,' Cruz said on social media. 'Food is too high, gas is too high, diesel is too high, insurance is too high, life is too high.' Steve Bannon, sometimes referred to as the Godfather of MAGA, took shots at members of the Trump cabinet and some members of the media. He blamed Fox News and particularly Sean Hannity for backing bad candidates like Darline Graham and questioned whether Pete Hegseth should keep his job after the failures of the Iran War. 'We're talking about a kinetic war. We're talking about actually going to a war against the Persians, and here we are a long way from victory,' Bannon raged. 'Who's accountable for that? Is [Trump], or is that, the head of the Department of War, or is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff?' Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who ran against Trump in 2016, eviscerated both DeSantis and Vance for their criticisms Senator Ted Cruz saw his state of Texas succumb to the worst of the blue wave, leaving him the lone Republican statewide elected officialJohn Solomon, a conservative commentator for Real America's Voice, took on his old employers at Fox News, saying their time as a leader of right wing opinion had come and gone. 'I do think some of the mainstays of the Republican Party, the Fox News, the Christian coalition, they frayed in this election,' Solomon said. 'There's still a coalition to be regathered, but tonight, it fractured and it fractured under very clear circumstances, the economy and not sticking to your promises and bad candidates in some cases.' He said the party's issues were 'very fixable for 2028, but some sort of conversation has to happen in the Fox News style of having that conversation with Republicans. That era is over.'At Fox News, Dana Perino was among those who wondered if the Trump era and the MAGA movement itself was ending.'I would say no political movement lasts forever. And President Trump's was longer because of the interruption in his two terms, right? Because of the Biden thing. So it's a much longer time,' Perino claimed. Hannity, ironically, called for a ceasefire among conservatives, expressing disappointment in the fighting. 'My message tonight is all hands on deck, stay away from circular firing squads, finger-pointing, blame,' Hannity said on his Fox News show.'Allow Democrats to show their true colors as they are now doing; have real answers on the other side.' Sean Hannity called for a ceasefire among conservatives, expressing disappointment in the fighting John Solomon, a conservative commentator for Real America's Voice and a longtime Trump supporter, took on his old employers at Fox News, saying their time as a leader of right wing opinion had come and goneHannity himself has acknowledged that the war and cost of living issues may have doomed Republicans. It was revealed on Wednesday that members of the Trump team questioned whether the President had backed the right candidates, citing Darline Graham, Ken Paxton and Michael Whatley'I have seen the enemy and it is us,' said James Blair, the man tasked with running the President's midterm strategy.'In many places,' added Tony Fabrizio, the president's chief pollster.Some members of the MAGA-verse refused to take on their own party.Former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt faced backlash after insisting voters don't know how much money they have in their pockets.'Unfortunately, I think the American people forgot about the good policy, maybe listened to the lying media on the other side that is definitely in the back seat of the Democrat Party,' Leavitt said.She went on to claim Democrats had no policy solutions and argued that Trump's tax cuts had left Americans with more money in their pockets.'They got more money in their pockets because of the president's tax cuts,' she insisted. Mark Levin (pictured left) aimed straight at the vice president over the failed ceasefire that Vance negotiated with IranLara Trump, the President's daughter-in-law, said Trump's problems were caused during his time out of office as she blamed the his predecessor, Joe Biden.'The way this president has set things up will not take effect immediately,' she told Fox News. 'It takes a long time to rebuild from the Biden years, from the destruction the Democrats themselves caused to this country,' she added.Speaking to Fox News in a late-night interview as the results came in, President Trump admitted he was surprised by the scale of the Democrats' success.'I'm a little bit surprised, I thought they'd [the Republicans] do better,' he said, before boasting about the huge crowds he had drawn during his campaign rallies.'Look, they got out for the rallies. You never saw rallies that big. I mean, outside of the rallies I have, when I have, you know, the general election, which is you know, a step above. In all fairness, like maybe a few steps above. Outside of that, I mean, these were the biggest rallies ever,' he said.'Nobody's ever seen anything like it. I left every one of those states, and the places were packed with thousands, and in some cases tens of thousands of people outside, trying to get in and having to watch a jumbotron, as they call it.'President Trump was quick to shift the blame away from his own declining approval ratings.'They didn't like the candidates.... this MAGA base is incredible, the most loyal people, the greatest people, the people that built America. Longtime Trump supporter and former White House advisor Steve Bannon took shots at members of the Trump cabinet and some members of the media'I was trying to get people in that were people that frankly I didn't get along with. But for purposes of the party I went along with it, and the base would tell me... sir they weren't for you.'He went on to suggest that some Republican candidates had simply failed to motivate their supporters to turn out.'In other cases they just didn't inspire the people to get out and vote,' Trump said. 'And I wasn't on the ballot. If I was on the ballot, they would have gotten out.'Despite the scale of the Republican losses, Trump did offer some praise for his political opponents.'I think the Democrats did a good job, I really do.... They fought hard. They've been fighting me for a long time.''I don't like to consider it a defeat for me. I wasn't on the ballot,' he said.The next day amid mounting pressure, Trump was forced to concede that Vance's analysis had been 'largely true', adding: 'It drove the gasoline up a little bit – short term – and probably that's true.' Some blamed Hegseth (pictured right) for his handling of the Iran WarBut he remained defiant about attacking Tehran, insisting it had been 'worth it'. 'If I had to do it again, I'd have to do it again because long term, that's the only answer. You can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon,' he said.Democrats have gained 40 seats already in the House with 27 contests still on the board, as well as a shocking seven Senate seats with two more still favoring them left to be decided. The Democrats flipped Senate seats in states where they hadn't won in decades, including Texas, South Carolina and a once in a century victory in Kansas.They could still potentially win two more in Mississippi and Alaska if late returns go their way. Similarly, they have 253 confirmed House seats, a gain of 38 so far, with 25 more seats remaining on the board. The Democrats have also won the governor's mansion in 29 states, giving them a majority for the first time in 16 years. They also gained 'trifectas' in several new states, where they now control every branch of state government.